


Subtext and Siblings

by d_aia



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-11 02:40:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18421137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d_aia/pseuds/d_aia
Summary: “I have evaluated the results,” Five begins. He remembers thinking that everyone taking a stab at leading a mission was a good thing. It was supposed to be fail-proof: a way to ease the uncertainty and mistrust in the team/family. If everyone has a fair shot, there would be a lot more trust when somebody ends up with the job. And if that person is not Luther, it’s even better that they find that gem now while they’re young again. More chances of preventing the Apocalypse that way. “We all seem to have failed.”*Growing pains.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Updates: Every third (possibly fourth) day. 
> 
> Notes and Warnings: Everybody is this family has gone through some trauma or another, more than one even, and it shows. Also, they don't have a gentle Vanya to deal with. I love gentle!Vanya, but this is not one of those stories. That being said, it's a discovery story, for everyone, and one that is going to have a happy/hopeful ending. Enjoy!

Five contemplates the room. His family is truly a disaster. What he needs to do is inform them of the results, but what he is in the mood for is a good, long sulk.

“I have evaluated the results,” Five begins. He remembers thinking that everyone taking a stab at leading a mission was a good thing. It was supposed to be fail-proof—a way to ease the uncertainty and mistrust in the team/family. If everyone has a fair shot, there would be a lot more trust when somebody ends up with the job and if that person is not Luther, it’s even better that they find that gem now while they’re young again. More chances of preventing the Apocalypse that way. “We all seem to have failed.”

And it yielded results, just not ones that Five ever imagined.

Lifting up his arms, Klaus cheers. “Great job, team!”

“Shut up, Klaus!” Luther snaps.

Klaus sends him a kiss and dodges an elbow from Ben.

“Klaus, don’t be difficult,” Ben whispers.

“Aw, Ben.” Klaus wraps his arms and legs around Ben like an octopus and squeezes. It’s an interesting reversal of Ben’s powers but Ben doesn’t seem perturbed by it. “I am what I am.”

Five shakes his head and tries to get them back on track. “As I _was saying_ , none of us showed a lack of issues. We are a dysfunctional mess.” He watches them in silence for a few seconds: Ben is on the floor being Klaus’ teddy bear, Diego scowls with his back to the wall but surreptitiously standing guard over his two brothers, Luther is on the opposite side of the room making cow eyes at Allison who is holding hands with Vanya on the couch. But Five has learned something about wrangling his family and, for being basically feline, his siblings look awfully human-shaped. “That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a choice better than all the others.”

Everybody perks up at that with the exception of Klaus, who just rolls his eyes and snuggles closer to Ben, looking ready to fall asleep.

Stifling a sigh, Five says, “I’ll start in numeral order—”

“The order of obedience,” Vanya comments with a sneer.

There’s shocked silence for a beat, Allison looking at Vanya with wounded and guilty eyes and Diego seemingly ready to throw down, before Klaus giggles. “There’s no way I’m more obedient than Ben.”

“I’ve given it some thought,” Five says as Vanya’s eyes start lightening in color, “and I think it may be in order of how much power we have, with one being the least and seven being the most.”

“What?” Luther looks taken aback more than he looks angry, but Five has no doubt that it’s coming. “What are you talking about? You all think you are more powerful than me?” There, Five called it.

“No order can be right with me in the middle. I’m either more obedient than Ben or more powerful than Allison, Diego, and Luther,” Klaus says sleepily. “That’s—no. Dad took the first baby and, because he is a creative black hole who doesn’t actually give a crap, said, ‘Number One.’ And then continued. Not everything has a hidden meaning.”

“Point,” Five says, but he still wonders.

Luther doesn’t give up. “We know that Dad sacrificed himself to save the world.” Of course, he doesn’t stop, someone implied that he might not be all that. Leaving Luther’s abuse-and-manipulation induced blind loyalty, Five is once again happy due to the fact that Dad actually listened about them coming back and wanting to do their own training.

Now, Dad observes them from a distance like he always wanted.

“It was his fault in the first place,” Diego says with an eye roll. Five is willing to bet that his theory about power level didn’t sit well with Diego either, but there’s little he likes more than to stick it to Luther.

Klaus smacks his lips and looks three seconds away from falling asleep.

Cats; keeping a conversation on track in this family is like herding cats. It’s a dark comedy. Now, for example, Diego, Allison, Vanya, and Luther are various shades of pissed, Ben looks ready to follow Klaus and fall asleep, and Five asks the universe what he did to deserve this shit.

Ah. 

Five used to be an assassin.

Still, he was fresh out of other options that didn’t include dying or continuing as he was. Forty plus years of being the last man on Earth leaves much to be desired. He was desperate. Also, how much can a person pay for a mistake they made when they were thirteen? Not enough, apparently.

Klaus comes awake with a jump, hands coming up to cover his ears. He closes his eyes tightly, hands white-knuckled. Hell, he looks in pain. Ben wakes up too and looks around, confused. Everybody else just looks concerned for Ben.

Then again, maybe this family isn’t into empathy.

“In no particular order,” Five says while watching Ben as he whispers something to Klaus. “Ben doesn’t seem to want anything to do with leading a team.”

“Damn straight,” Ben says loudly. “Is it any better? Where did you leave your Walkman?”

Klaus mumbles something and Ben arms come up to hold him. Considering that Klaus’ legs are still around Ben, they become somewhat pretzel-ish. Although Five will keep an eye for tentacles, he thinks they look cozy, amusing, and his back-pain pains make a phantom comeback.

“Allison is okay as long as everything goes to plan. When it doesn’t, she panics and rumors everyone,” Five says and Allison sheepishly lowers her head. “I think she’ll be an excellent second in command.”

Allison’s head snaps up and both Luthor and Vanya look a strange mixture of jealous and proud.

Diego sneers in their direction.

“I think we should give more thought to communicating with the police and the press, so she’ll be great for that aspect. She has the experience for it and knows people,” Five explains. “And we should work at the panic bit.”

Allison looks around the room, probably sees no disapproving stares, and nods decidedly.

“Diego is aggressive,” Five says and ignores Diego’s glare. “But he doesn’t seem all that interested in strategy. To be honest, I got the impression that he doesn’t want to lead, but he will if he doesn’t like the established leader and their actions.”

Diego doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes, but, after a few minutes, he cautiously nods.

“I am too used to sacrifice others and Luther is disturbingly willing to sacrifice one of us so we’re out,” Five says. “Vanya is too willing to kill everyone just because they pissed her off.”

Both Luther and Vanya look ready to protest, or rather attack somebody with their powers, when Five adds, “We’re in the same boat, people, and as long as I can recognize you, you can tell me I’m wrong for the next sixty years and that isn’t going to change it.”

Luther clenches his jaw, but Vanya has a more difficult time controlling herself. Years on mood dampeners are not easily shrugged off. It’s possible that she never learned how to deal with being angry.

That being said, Five knows that something has got to change there. He isn’t as hopeful as the others that time will solve their problem. But that’s an issue for later.

“And Klaus is high,” Five finishes and Vanya is knocked out of her anger to nod. She is followed by Luther, and after a moment’s hesitation by Allison.

“Is he really though?” Allison asks, having thought better of it.

“’m not,” Klaus mumbles.

“He is five months clean,” Diego says.

“Five months, one week, and four hours,” Ben adds.

Huh, his siblings _do_ care. Maybe this won’t be such a disaster; maybe they’ll just accept it. Or maybe, Five has got to stop his occasional drinking because his cognition is impaired.

“I didn’t think he was,” Five says and lets the silence speak for him.

“Wait.” Klaus’ head goes up. “This… nope. I let people with guns go past. For a burrito. That’s all the proof you need right there.”

“And yet, when you were in the lead, your strategy was exemplary.” Five cannot believe he’s saying this and yet everything is correct. “You gave us the tasks we liked the most, adapted to the environment, didn’t panic the moment it went south, and got us and the hostages home safely. In fact, you never panicked. You were alert and engaged.”

“What are you talking about?” Luthor asks but by the look on his face he already understands.

Everybody else is stunned.

Well… Diego is laughing his ass off, but _generally_.

Ben swings his head around to look at Klaus. “You know, I can see it.”

Klaus stares incredulously.

“The man threw a fire extinguisher into a portal,” Luther says slowly as if they, or Five, have problems comprehending this one simple aspect. “And because he _somehow_ managed to bumble his way through _once_ ”—he stabs a finger in Klaus’ direction—“ _he_ is going to be the leader?”

Five smiles. It’s apparently frightening because Luther blanches and visibly stops himself from taking a step back. Dammit, and here Five was aiming for approachable.

Whatever.

“The fire extinguisher showed me that the portal worked,” Five says.

Klaus loudly slaps his forehead.

Allison studies Klaus shrewdly, but the question is aimed at Five. “What do you mean by that?”

“It might have simply allowed me to see in your time,” Five explains.

“Okay, okay, this has gone far enough.” Klaus is oddly serious all of a sudden. It has an interesting effect on their siblings who each do their own version of an interested head-tilt and pay attention. “I didn’t know that. I didn’t think that. I was…” Klaus looks around him and must have reached the same conclusion as Five because Klaus puts on an absent smile, _the_ absent smile, and says, “I was high. And drunk. I didn’t have a…”—he waves his arm—“a hidden plan. I just”—he mimes throwing the extinguisher—“plonk! It seemed like a great idea.”

Klaus smiles more, again with the addict smile, and gathers his ratty cardigan around his body with a swift but elegant gesture. He is just wearing a singlet under it, but he manages the gesture with the gravitas of a silk jacket in the boardroom. It’s powerful imagery, one that their siblings must have seen a thousand times, that Five, himself, has seen often enough to become familiar. And the results are obvious. He inspires disgust with the striking difference between what Klaus pretends to be and the others thinks he is. It’s almost a visceral reaction of rejection.  

But _this_ is a bad time to showcase it.

“Woa,” Allison mouths.

And Diego’s wide eyes are impressive. “Huh.” Five doesn’t think he has ever seen Diego so surprised.

“Do you even like wearing skirts?” Luther asks.

“Yes,” both Klaus and Ben answer.

“Make gestures like…” Luther starts waving his arms like a drunken goose while Klaus watches horrified. “Were they real?” Luther continues to wave his arms while Diego looks increasingly like he’s about to tear something because he’s trying so hard not to laugh.

Allison catches one of Luther’s hands, prompting him to stop and Diego to explode in laughter. There’s silence for a few seconds while Diego slides down the wall. Five swallows a snort and reminds himself that more often than not, there is humor in the absurd.

His family is an absurd disaster.

“It’s him,” Ben says, obviously having decided to ignore Diego. “He dials it up when he needs to _and_ he can also be serious. We all do it in our way.”

“You’d know,” Five acknowledges. He isn’t convinced, but this would be the first time in a great many years that simple words make him a believer. No, he’ll wait and see. “Anyway, it wasn’t only once. He managed to find me a piece of information in a very creative manner, he found me when no one knew where I was by deducing my most probable location then actively searching, even his throwing the cake at that Commission goon was the perfect thing to throw. It was both heavy enough and it spread all over the visor so the goon couldn’t see.”

Klaus watches Five with wary eyes.

“Besides, he sneaked into the back of my van without my hearing him, he managed to survive Cha-cha and Hazel, seized the opportunity to escape, survived close to one year in the war while detoxing, saved Diego, ran over Cha-Cha and Hazel, moved surprisingly fast out of the way of Diego’s knife, protected Luther, and summoned Ben when we needed him the most,” Five says and it sounds even more impressive said out loud.   

Allison frowns. “Where do you know all this from?”

“And he did most of this things while high as a kite,” Five continues ignoring Allison for the moment. “Even when he was sober, he was going through withdrawal. Also, in Vietnam, he wasn’t at the top of his game.”

Finding an opportunity, Klaus tries to interrupt with a wide stretch of his lips, “They do have this plant—”

Five expects it was supposed to be a sort of grin or satisfied smile, but it didn’t even look similar.

Anyway, Five has a point here. “Klaus has been addicted to something ever since he was… thirteen? His brain could have turned to mush, which it didn’t, but the fact that he lost some IQ points and the ability to use to their full potential various cognitive abilities is indisputable. It’s just how drugs and alcohol work.”

“So I’m stupid,” Klaus says in the silence that fell after Five’s speech. “I could have told you that.”

“No. This is about how you _were_ , all the damage was reversed when we arrived,” Five says coldly. “And I’m saying you were not stupid even if you should have been.”

“What are you _actually_ saying?” Vanya asks.

“I’m still the smartest.” Five feels like this should be established. “ _And_ I think it’s possible for Klaus to be the second smartest.”

His siblings are wearing disturbingly similar ‘are-you-kidding-me’ looks.

“It doesn’t have to be conventional,” Five argues, a tad defensively. He can’t believe he’s saying this either. “After I analyzed the scenarios, I thought back: street-smarts count, creativity and originality count, sense of preservation counts, and cunningness definitely _counts_.” He offers his dumb-struck siblings a shrug.

“What”—starts Klaus, eyes narrowed while he’s smirking, and Five has never seen Klaus like this—“are you on and where can I get some?”

And something occurs to Five. “Why are you so mad about this?”

Klaus closes his mouth with a click. “Well, you know,” he tries for light-hearted, but more than a few seconds have passed. “I was being humble.” He waves his hand again but squeezes Ben’s with the other.

Five frowns but Allison asks again, “How did you know about all that?”

“I either saw them or heard them from others,” Five says, but his attention is mostly on Klaus.

No matter how complicated time travel is, Five has always found his family to be more of a challenge. Time travel, at least, is emotionless: either you have the juice or you don’t. True, his almost fifty years spent in solitude had enough emotional charge, but he got there by being curious and ignoring Dad. And Five had to live with himself.

But his family? No. No matter how good Five was at predicting behavior he never truly got the clowder that was his family. He actually _likes_ the complexities of time-travel, while his siblings’ puzzle him endlessly.

Though, to be fair, Five’s preference it’s at least a little because those complexities have brought his family back again and again—challenging and an absurd disaster that they are.

“You said that there’s an issue with Klaus,” Luther says, for once remembering the track this conversation started on.

_Thank you, Luther!_

“His powers,” Five says. “I believe they are behind his addiction. The start of it, anyway. He can’t seem to control them, so much so that he”—Five turns to Klaus—“ _you_ willingly destroyed so much of yourself just to be rid of them. Though you might be clean now, you don’t need too much of a push.”

“Hey!” Klaus shouts. “What the fuck?”

Ben looks angry at Five’s speech, but he doesn’t actually disagree.

Klaus looks around at their siblings and rolls his eyes. He starts to say something, but closes his mouth. He finally says, “Nobody ever needs too much of a push.”

And Five wonders if that was what he wanted to say in the first place.

“Look, Klaus, no offense,” Diego starts in a very Diego-like way, which means that it is offensive, aggressive, and probably mean. “I just know that you see the dead and then, suddenly, you conjure up Ben after two days of sobriety. What can you even do?”

“I just see the dead,” Klaus says. “If I’m sober. And once, I conjured up Ben, after helping him be solid enough to punch me that one time and save your ass that other time with the collapsing walls.”

And that’s it. That’s all Klaus says. He seems impervious to his family leaning over, expecting more details. He even seems to ignore Ben who’s trying to catch his eye.

“That’s it?” Luther asks. He seems supremely unimpressed and Five agrees.

Still.

Five asks, “So why—”

“That’s not it,” Ben says and gives Klaus a slap upside the head. “Don’t make me say it.”

Klaus looks at pleadingly, but Ben is apparently merciless.

“The dead,” Klaus begins, “are around us all the time. Some come and go, some stay away, some follow people around, and some just stay. When they realize I can see them, they talk to me and when I ignore them they… shout.” His eyes start to get glassy and his voice is barely above a whisper. “They are loud. I listen to music, but that doesn’t stop them. Alcohol makes me not care so much and drugs make them disappear.”

That’s a problem.

“All the time?” Allison asks. She doesn’t look as she doesn’t believe Klaus, but Ben still glares at her.

“All the time,” Ben says.

Vanya stays worryingly silent.

“Don’t ignore them then,” Luther and Diego say, then look at each other in disgust.

“Sometimes, it calls more of them if he pays attention,” Ben says. “Suddenly it’s ten, twenty ghosts talking over each other. And…” He looks sheepish. “They ask him to help, but realistically he can’t.” Klaus glares at him accusingly and Ben tells him, “They helped you with those two. It was good that you—”

“How?!” Klaus asks. “How exactly did it help? How did it change anything? I could say one name and one story; I literally couldn’t hear myself think. They didn’t start howling, yeah, congrats to me. But I smelled that guy’s guts that were spilling all over the floor while he was telling me his sob story. How did I learn control when I just sat there and had more than a dozen ghosts each more horribly maimed tell me exactly how they were tortured?”

…That’s a big problem.

Five swallows a couple of times.

“You were clean!” Ben shouts.

Klaus’ eyes flash. “Whoopty-fucking-do,” he says coldly.

Unwilling or unable to meet Klaus’ eyes, Ben explains, “The dead have two forms: intact as they were right before what caused their death happened, and how they looked after the time of death. When they remember their deaths, most revert to how they looked after it happened.”

“So… guts,” Allison says.

Diego shivers. “How about you?”

“I learned to stick to my before image.” Ben shrugs and everybody winces.

Five heard the story from Luther and Diego—it wasn’t pretty. He looks around for a bottle of alcohol before he knows what he’s doing. “Fuck.”

“Looking for a drink?” Klaus cackles.

Resisting the urge to pinch his nose, Five asks, “And it only took two days for Ben to touch you?”

“A day,” Klaus answers. “And ten months of sobriety before that last high.”

“You don’t know what you can do, do you?” Luther asks.

“No,” Ben says.

And at the same time, Five drawls, “Dad did say he has a lot of potential.”

Diego swears viciously.

“Are you suggesting that with this… this _death-filled bomb_ hanging around his neck, Klaus should lead us?” Luther asks Five.

“The only new thing about the death-filled bomb is that we know about it.” Five narrows his eyes and smiles viciously. “None of it was new to Klaus, who has shown himself capable of leading us _without_ any powers.”

“Ordinary,” Vanya says and snorts bitterly.

It’s a good thing that Vanya decides to participate, alarms were ringing for Five at her prolonged silence—Apocalypse, must not forget the Apocalypse—but she’s wrong.

“With a few more chattering ghosts,” Five adds.

Vanya scrunches his nose in a way that makes Five believe he has missed her point.

“This about issues that we all have and Klaus’ was, what I considered at first, in the future: his addiction,” Five says, making a note to pay more attention to Vanya. “I suspected that we have to concentrate on his power for that to happen. The issue is much bigger than I thought, but that’s not exactly a surprise or a unique event.”

Allison snorts inelegantly and nods.

Rolling his eyes, Ben turns to Klaus. “I told you.” Diego scowls confusedly and that somehow persuades Ben to explain further. Ah, Ben. “I told him that you’d help if you knew.”

Aw, Ben.

Diego straightens. “Of course, we would.”

This family is a challenging, absurd disaster that _still_ manages to tug at Five’s heartstrings.


	2. Chapter 2

Five is now put in the position to make peace between two of his siblings and their powers. Neither are co-operating. Vanya is… unstable, at best, and Klaus can’t stay still. And while they know for sure that Vanya has the power to start the Apocalypse, Five isn’t sure that Klaus is too far away. His is the stuff horror movies are made of, there’s no need for them to be as high-level as Vanya’s to have a lasting effect on more people.

“You know,” Klaus says after a record of one whole minute of staying still. He’s cross-legged and bare-footed on the training room padded floor. “I was thinking. What if you write it down? Would it work then? _Can_ you make it work?”

Considering that Klaus had his eyes closed, didn’t say anyone’s name, and Five didn’t know what Klaus was talking about, Five merrily joined his siblings in bafflement.

 Family moments.

“What are you talking about, Klaus?” Diego asks, annoyed.

“Hm?” Klaus opens his eyes. “Allison. Her powers.”

“My powers don’t work like that,” Allison says. She is interrupted from reading a military strategy book but doesn’t seem upset. It seems that somebody acknowledging her efforts went a long way towards calming her down. “Plus, I’m using them less and less.” She glances remorsefully at Vanya.

Klaus shrugs and this should have been it. Right? Wrong, of course. Because now, Allison’s _thinking._

Did Klaus just manipulate Allison? Was Klaus having a dismissive attitude on purpose? Five looks at Klaus fidgeting on the floor, being the same oblivious self, and Five realizes he doesn’t know. 

How can Five not kno—

Five needs to take a breath and calm down.

No. Five decides that Klaus didn’t. Well, he did make her think, but he either didn’t want to push his point across, didn’t he care that much about it, or both.

Klaus is smart and he notices stuff, those are things that Five should remember.

But Klaus is also kind. He apologized to Luther when Klaus slipped up and told Allison that Luther had sex with somebody else. That one came as shock. If Luther had upset Allison, why not just let him pay for it? Luther is a self-righteous, dismissive asshole with everybody, but especially with Klaus. Why wouldn’t Klaus take the win? Five would. Allison would. Diego would. Vanya would. Luther, himself, would. Hell, Five is not sure that Ben wouldn’t have. But Klaus, he was sorry, sincerely sorry.

*

“It doesn’t make sense,” Five says, two days later.

Klaus is again cross-legged and bare-footed, trying—in vain?—to control his power, so naturally, he jumps at the chance for conversation. “What doesn’t? What does? Tell more.”

“If you can call dead people to you, then you should be able to have them go away too.”

“Logic doesn’t work on our powers.” Klaus snorts. “Take time travel. To you, it’s logical, right? To the Commission too because they can pinpoint to people that can change history.”

This doesn’t sound good. “Mmhmm.”

“Why hasn’t the timeline changed?”

“I don’t follow.”

“You were an assassin.”

“How do you know that?”

“Somebody talked about it while I was in the room.”

Five frowns at Klaus’ words. “I was.”

“I can see that, but thank you for the confirmation?” Klaus waves a hand airily, not paying any mind to the small fact that the statement left Five breathless. He didn’t connect Klaus seeing Cha-Cha and Hazel’s victims to himself. Five _didn’t realize_ the full scope of what Klaus had said. Which, while being par for course as nobody was paying enough attention to the rest family and, especially to Klaus, still manages to irk Five. “Anyway, how come the people you shot are still dead when turned back in time before you disappeared the first time.”

“We might not be able to change anything,” Five frowns as he answers. He’s not exactly following with Klaus odd logic hops. “Or I might still kill them.”

“But it’s going to be different,” Klaus says. “It’s not the same river water the second time and all that. What about the Apocalypse? We did things differently the second time around just by not being at the house. Who decides when it’s a big enough change? Why are you back if there’s no possible way to change the timeline? If it’s so fragile why didn’t changing the place where we died work? If it isn’t, why does the Commission bother protecting it?”

Five watches Klaus steadily, his mind ticking at increasing speeds.  

“And another thing,” Klaus continues. “Why couldn’t I talk to Ben when I was in Vietnam? I assumed it was because he wasn’t born yet, but, if that’s right, then all your victims shouldn’t have been dead in the first place because you aren’t at an age to have killed them yet. Even the Commission wouldn’t be able to function unless they did their kills chronologically.”

Five can’t say anything.

“I only get it sometimes before it flies away from me, but—” Klaus takes a deep breath. “It’s one of two ways: you either continue your life while time-traveling or you start fresh when you double-back. If you start fresh, the people you killed shouldn’t be dead. Even if we’d have returned after you disappeared, you’d still have double-backed on the first time you appeared and I attacked you with an extinguisher, so it would still be a rewrite of what happened.”

“And if it’s a continuance of your life, Ben should have been with you, in Vietnam,” Five says. He’s… surprised to say the least. “Because you still have your power and it was just an event in the timeline of your life.”

Klaus nods. “Right.”

“Maybe you didn’t know to call him, but you could,” Five offers.

“I never had to call Ben.”

“Or maybe you did it subconsciously.”

“And I wouldn’t in Vietnam?”

“You assumed he wasn’t born yet.”

“Not at first,” Klaus says. “At first, I didn’t even know where I was.”

“Fine, I’ll think about it some more,” Five allows. “As for the other options, maybe other Commission assassin handled them.”

“I wouldn’t see them.”

Five is forced to nod.

“And weren’t you a super-assassin, able to get the job done no matter what?”

Five shrugs. “Maybe they learned.”

“How would they have learned?”

Five opens his mouth then closes it. “They wouldn’t have because if I never did it, they never saw it. That still doesn’t exclude assassins trying to right the time over and over until they succeed.”

“Right.”

“No.” Five sighs. “Why would they have come from me if they could do it themselves? Even if over and over, they’d do it. They made me desperate by leaving me so long. I’d have done anything so that meant they needed me.”

Klaus just put his chin in his hands, watching Five attentively.

“Somebody could have felt sorry for me and knew that I was smart because I survived the world’s end, but what happened when I betrayed them?” Five starts to pace. “Why make the trip in the future to recruit me now that they know?”  

“Maybe they wouldn’t have and the moment you betrayed them other assassins made your kills.” Klaus screws his eyes shut. “Or maybe… no. Yes? Maybe if it happened in the past it’s set, but if it hasn’t happened in the future it’s still… wobbly?”

“Why couldn’t they kill me at my last assassination then? Why look for me when you were adults? Why send Cha-cha and Hazel after me when I first got back and not when I actually betrayed them? And the past is not set because if it were, we wouldn’t have been able to return.”

Klaus wipes his face vigorously. “I’m lost.”

“Of course, you are,” Five says and rolls his eyes.  And then stops mid-eye roll. He only knows this doesn’t make sense because Klaus noticed it. He said it himself that he doesn’t always get it, but he got it enough to realize some things that escaped Five so… Maybe Five should try. “The past is not set because if it were, you would have remembered being twenty before it even happened or we couldn’t have come back at all. And if the past isn’t set… If you start fresh any time you backtrack your steps, then nothing could have stopped the Commission from going back in time right before I betrayed them, attacking with guns and goons, and try to kill me then. They didn’t. They came after I made the jump, even though now they knew about it.”

“See?! It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Unless there’s another explanation for Ben not being there.”

“Like what?”

“…I don’t know.”

Klaus gasps dramatically.

“Yet,” Five adds. “I don’t know yet.”

Klaus cackles. “Anyway, it’s not just your powers that don’t make sense. Allison’s don’t either.”

“They are too specific,” Five agrees.

“What if she only writes the part with she heard a rumor, would it still work?” Klaus leans back on his elbows. “How about writing it all? What about using sign language? How would it work if she tells it to somebody who doesn’t speak the language? Questions, questions.”

“She’s experimenting with her powers now, so, we’ll see, I guess.” Five rubs his neck. He’s too young to have a crick yet, but he still remembers it. “I know that it doesn’t work on somebody who doesn’t speak the language. It doesn’t work with animals either. That’s left-over from Dad; that’s when he gave up on her. He said it’s limited, but I like the distinction between the first part and the instructions so we’ll watch for that.”

“How did you convince her?”

“I didn’t.”

“Vanya, then?”

“You did.”

Klaus straightens. “No. She said no.”

“You made her curious.”

Klaus is suspiciously silent and Five decides to wait him out.

“I didn’t just fuck up a little girl, did I?” Klaus asks blankly.

Five freezes. He knows about Allison’s daughter, of course he does, it’s a constant sort of grief for Allison. It always follows and surrounds her.

Since she wasn’t an immediate problem, though, Five didn’t exactly make plans for her. To be perfectly honest, she’s not real to him. Maybe it’s just until Allison has her once more—if she even does because things are changed now.

It’s a constant drive to make the family better that he didn’t think about the consequences if somebody else went rogue again. If it’s Vanya, they all die. That bit is simple. But Allison getting past people’s agency it’s nothing out of the common. Even though she got into it with Vanya on the subject, Five still feels uncertain that Vanya is going to be any sort of stop as far as other people are concerned.

As a matter of fact, Five doesn’t like what he sees when he watches Vanya these days.

“You didn’t,” Five says.

Klaus snorts.

“I won’t allow it,” Five adds.

“What are going to do?” Klaus asks dismissively.

“What I need to do.”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Klaus leans forward. “Nobody is doing anything.”

“We’re going to have to.” And when Klaus looks at him confusedly, Five continues, “We are getting stronger, faster, smarter, better, more efficient in every way. Maybe not now, but in ten-fifteen years, we’re the only ones who can control us. We already were.”

“This is _nuts._ ”

“How?” Five sneers. “Aren’t we here, now, because Vanya lost it? My point was that as we get better, we have a chance to stop the Apocalypse from happening, but it’ll also a chance for more Vanyas.”

“That there’s a world in which you’re right, _that’s_ nuts!”

Five shakes his head.

“Wait, just…” Klaus waves his hands around. “Slow down a bit. Maybe we can try to not let it go that far. We can…”

Five chuckles bitterly. “What?”

 “Get her a pet! Rock! A pet rock!” Klaus shouts. “We can get her a pet rock and let that teach her—”

But Five’s not listening. “A cat.” _Like you all are._ “It’ll be perfect.” _Somebody will finally understand what I’m going through._

“We don’t want to have a cat on our conscience though,” Klaus whines.

Five just looks at him.

“ _I_ don’t want to have a cat on my conscience,” Klaus amends.

“You just don’t want a ghost cat.”

Klaus extends his arms in a dramatic fashion. “Can you blame me?”

*

It’ll take some time to convince Dad to give them money for the cat and until then Five gets to the problem of making time travel logical. He thought it’ll be a lot easier than it proves to be. Mainly because people exist and they’re not an element that can be counted on to be any kind of logical. Assumptions, arrogance, pride, stupidity, passion, morals, love are things tough to account for and Five is getting cranky.

That’s his excuse.

It’s not a good one.

Five is going to the kitchen in his search for more coffee when he trips over Klaus. It’s then that he has an idea. “We should find you a cemetery,” Five mumbles more than says. “Something with a lot of ghosts. A mausoleum?”

Klaus is white-faced in a way that should be sounding alarms to Five.

_It doesn’t._

For whatever reason, Five fails to register Klaus’ odd behavior and continues, “Worth thinking about.”

Klaus jumps up. “I’ll be right back.” And disappears up the stairs choking on his words. He seems to be calling Mom.

Five shrugs and continues down the stairs… making him worthy of the ‘idiot’ title.

After fifteen minutes and two sips of ambrosia, Klaus slaps a notebook on the table.

“What’s that?” Five asks Klaus.

Mom looms silently behind Klaus.

“A salted caramel chocolate tart recipe,” Klaus says with wide eyes and dramatic gestures.

Five looks down. “Huh.”

“You missed food. Also, you are getting nowhere with…” Klaus makes a series of incomprehensible gestures. “What you’re working on. Now turn that”—with a motion towards his own head—“to following a few simple steps.” Here, he points to the notebook. “And voilà, deliciousness.”

“Huh,” Five says again, but more interested.

“Mom says that we have all the ingredients and she’ll be here in case”—Klaus pauses dramatically—“you need help.”

Five gives him an obviously fake smile.

“And then, maybe you can take some to Luther to make him stop sulking,” Klaus goes on. “Since you’re asking Dad for money, you can ask for flying lessons for Luther. Diego’s fine, but he’ll begin to sulk too so for him…”

“Diving lessons,” Five says decidedly.

“Sure. Why not?” Klaus waves his hand around some more. “I could do with a tattoo gun and Ben would do with silk everything.”

Five frowns.

“He’s coping.” Klaus shrugs. “But the world is too much for him right now and smooth things help.” 

Five doesn’t know anything about being dead but Klaus is making an odd sort of sense. “Consider it done.” He thinks a bit then says, “It’ll probably help to introduce stimulus gradually like with any trauma. Textures, in this case.”

Klaus looks oddly pensive then covers it up with a large smile. “I’m going to go looking for a cat and I’m taking Ben with me.” He turns with a flourish. “It’ll be like old times.” Klaus waves a hand. “Don’t wait up. Good luck.”

“…Thanks.” But Five hesitated too long, and Klaus is now gone. “I’ll just start then.” He looks at the recipe and it stares back all incomprehensible steps.

Mom just smiles serenely and—does he read that right?—a bit mockingly.

It’s a challenge.

*

Five doesn’t realize at the time, but that’s when it began. Klaus got more and more agitated over the following days, with Ben and Diego getting more and more worried. When Five finally got the tattoo gun, Klaus went straight for it. It took Diego and Ben to wrestle it from him, and, though Ben did a fantastic job on the new ‘Hello,’ and ‘Goodbye,’ Klaus quieted just for two days. After that, Klaus was climbing up the walls again.

It comes to a head on a Thursday. Vanya is practicing; Allison, Luther, Diego, and Five are listening. They are snacking on some fries that Five made—he’s finally getting better at it—when they hear muffled shouting.

Vanya stops playing with a frown.

Five has a bad feeling about this and doesn’t even need to identify the voices. It’s Ben and Klaus, of course, and the last heard is Ben. Klaus’ contribution is a wordless yell. That is followed by the sounds of running steps down the stairs. Klaus shows up first and he’s not looking good. Disheveled and crazed-eyed, he sees Vanya and tries—uselessly—to smooth his hair down.

Uh-oh.

“Vanya,” Klaus says with a fake smile. “Lovely song. So…” He stops and closes his eyes. “I understand that I’m crossing a line, but I’m… desperate. I’m desperate. Please, I’m not having the best day. Your medicine, could you—May I have it?”

Oh, fuck.

“What?” Vanya’s eyes go white. “Do you understand what you’re asking?”

“I don’t do it easily,” Klaus explains haltingly, swallowing and trembling. “Please, Vanya. _Please!_ ”

Vanya just gets madder. “Why would you—Those are vile things and you’re acting as if—To remind me of years of being an outsider and cold shoulders and _abuse_ because you’ve had a bad day!”

Klaus takes a step back and shakes his head.

“I understand that you are… feeling the withdrawal and Ben’s being a bother, but you don’t do this, Klaus!” Vanya starts speaking but ends up shouting. She takes a step forward. “I thought you understand! You said you were sorry!” There’s suddenly a breeze. Klaus slips and lands on his ass. “You made your kind words cheap.” The breeze gets stronger and Klaus curls up, his eyes screwed shut. “You apology means nothing!” She puts the bow on her violin and…

…Klaus opens his eyes. His now electric blue eyes. To match his fisted hands. His mouth is open but no sound gets out.

Until it does, but Klaus doesn’t make it.

One by one, dozens upon dozens of ghosts appear.

All are mutilated. All are huddled around Klaus. All are howling.

And now, all are tangible.

Oh, _fuck._

They are pulling at Klaus’ hands, clothes, hair. Some start realizing that are now seen and start to advance on the siblings. What’s more, Five’s victims are among them and are coming towards him.

Klaus is gone. He’s beyond reach. Glassy-eyed, absent expression, and now Five gets it.

How long has it been like this?

Vanya, knocked off balance by the explosion of sound, is herself again. That’s good news, but they can’t make the ghosts disappear again. Ben shouts something but no one hears him. Mom is coming down the steps.

Five disappears, only to reappear with a non-addictive sedative from the infirmary. He tries to get close to Klaus, but before Five makes it he’s knocked back. The grocer that Five killed by drowning in the Seine has quite the swing. Also, Five can see as the skin and muscle of the cheekbone looks ready to slide off and… he’s just never going to forget this, is he?

Luther tries to punch one of them. _His_ fist goes straight through. Diego throws a knife and thuds into the wall behind the target. The dead, however, land _their_ hits.

Five disappears and reappears with tranquilizer darts. He doesn’t panic. That would be foolish. He’s… hurrying.

In the meantime, Allison must’ve tried something because a ghost is now choking her and Luther looks panicked.

Vanya seems to have recovered. Five once again worries about the integrity of the walls. Ben is still shouting something. And the ghosts haven’t stopped howling.

This is going well.

Five goes to Diego, hands the darts, and one of them is in Klaus a fraction of a second later.

Should be good news, right?

Wrong.

The problem is that Diego has already thrown two more.

Three is too much.

The second thuds home, in Klaus’ shoulder. But the third is—luckily—battered aside by an annoyed ghost wearing a uniform. _He_ seems oddly whole and shakes his head, as he bends down and takes the second dart out before all tranquilizer ends up in Klaus’ body. The soldier glares as he disappears.

Klaus slumps over. The ghosts are gone. Five’s ears are ringing. Ben is sad. Luther and Allison are embracing. Vanya is frozen. And Diego is pale.

Silence reigns.

It’s only broken when Mom swoops down to take Klaus. “I’m sure he’s fine, it’s just a checkup.” She goes in the direction of the infirmary.

They look at each other and follow her meekly. 


	3. Chapter 3

****

“What the hell was that?” Luther asks as they sit around Klaus’ bed.

Ben chuckles—bitterly?—and shakes his head. “The main reason for why Klaus gets high.”

“And you’re… laughing about it?” Diego frowns.

“Apparently, even when he controls his powers it doesn’t make the ghosts go away,” Ben says sadly. “It just makes it worse.”

That’s a tough pill to swallow and one that Five categorically refuses to. Yeah, maybe they didn’t have the right approach. _Clearly_ didn’t have the right approach. That doesn’t mean Five is just going to give up on his brother and abandon him to drugs. He’s willing to bet Ben isn’t either.

No, Five is interested in information. If they can find out what happened and why, maybe there’s a way. It has to be. So, Five turns to Ben. “What were you shouting?”

“When? I was shouting the whole time,” Ben says. “At first, I was yelling that I can’t get to him. Too dangerous, I could have hurt Klaus.”

Vanya turns away from Ben at that but Five can see her roll her eyes.

“Then I was warning you to be careful,” Ben goes on, oblivious to Vanya’s less than charitable reactions. “And the last one, I kept repeating that you can’t kill them. They’re dead. When I was shot at, the bullets just passed by me.”

That might be, but Five is not sure that it isn’t a voluntary thing. Ben rescued Diego, used his powers on the Commission goons, they were beaten up by ghosts, and the soldier touched two darts. Five isn’t disputing the fact that the dead can’t die, but that is exactly why they can be solid and never suffer for it.

Five grunts in response. If nobody else can tell, he’s not going to bring it up. Especially, since Vanya is… Do they even know Vanya? Five doesn’t remember her without her meds and who knows what they did outside dampening her emotional landscape. They know an artificially subdued Vanya, but not as she naturally is.  

“Do we know what caused it?” Five asks Ben. “He’s been… agitated for the last two weeks or so.”

“I think I did,” Ben admits. “We went searching for Icky and Klaus was trying to convince me to take him off the streets since he was a kitten and that was the best way to go about it. I referenced the mausoleum. I don’t know, I don’t remember exactly because I wasn’t paying attention, ah… something about him taking Icky because he looked terrified but trying to bluster his way through it, meowing loud enough the wake up the dead.” He sighs. “I guess I’m used to talking about it, but something was different then or maybe it was one time too many. He started having nightmares that night.”

“The mausoleum?” Five starts thinking back. “Why would that affect him?”

“Klaus fears the dead,” Ben says with an unhappy twist of his lips. “He always did and Dad locked him in the mausoleum for it. Supposedly to cure him and help his control, but _that_ backfired spectacularly.”

Five’s an _idiot_!

Also, Klaus is scared of dead people? Besides the fact that he’s pretty much surprised that Klaus is scared of _anything,_ it makes so much sense. He is constantly tormented by what he fears the most. It’s natural that he is so bad at controlling his power when he wants nothing to do with it.

But that, for love and whatever unspecified reason, has started to change.

How exactly? And how can they be sure they’re helping? Because Five is pretty sure he’s the trigger for Klaus’ nightmares.

“You aren’t, I am,” Five says. “I made a suggestion that in light of these events was over the line.” He takes a deep breath. “I didn’t know, obviously, but I’ll make it up to him somehow.”

Diego looks at Vanya and means to say something but eventually closes his mouth. They all feel guilty there. It’s a lot to know that your behavior has caused the Apocalypse and Five’s stake in this is even larger: he used to be close to Vanya and Ben, but he didn’t realize it was happening. For all his intelligence, Five was the one who got himself into the most trouble by acting foolishly. 

And, though something’s got to give one of these days, Five isn’t so sure they should confront Vanya. Maybe it’s just another stupidity in a long line of them, but there simply are too many unknowns. They know she’s powerful, she seems volatile, he isn’t sure he recognizes or understands her, and they don’t have a plan. 

“I think we’re pretty clear why Klaus was acting like he did,” Diego finally says, ignoring the slight breeze. “Is there something Pogo can give him? To help him sleep, at least? I know I’d go crazy just from the noise.”

“I’ll begin searching for an answer momentarily,” Pogo confirms.

“Non-addictive, please,” says Ben.

Pogo sighs. “Sadly, that will depend on him.”

Ben looks up with a frown.

“If Klaus uses them every night, as we wou—as I would be tempted to do, the probability that his body will eventually get used to them is high,” Five explains. “It’s a sedative; it doesn’t offer something the body lacks. With time, he will need more and more to be able to achieve the same effect so that’s a part of physical addiction. There may not be as many symptoms of withdrawal than the stuff he prefers now, but since you introduce a foreign substance into the body, long-term, chances are there will be some. Not to mention if it works, he’s emotionally dependent on it from the start.”

“All I can do is minimize the effects it would have on his body if used long-term,” Pogo adds.

“It’s a good idea, Diego.” Five looks at Klaus. “What about a sedative for emergencies and technology for the rest?”

“Headphones,” Allison says.

“Better than.” Five knows he’s on to something. “I’m thinking something that would stop all noise, not just drown it. No wires, no falling during sleep, no additional shape. Either it envelops the ear perfectly or it’s put _inside_ the ear.”

“Hm.” Pogo raises his glasses. “A plastic based composition, but comfortable.”

Five nods. “I think we can add—”

A breeze starts, the door opens and closes with a bang, Vanya’s gone, and Five doesn’t get to finish the sentence.

“We’re only making her stronger,” Diego says.

It’s insensitive but true. Her control is getting to be so good that she can easily turn a glass marble into dust without even cracking the glass wall in front of it. That was the easy part. Divorcing her feelings from her powers seems impossible.  

“If you’d stop calling her ‘she,’ and ‘her,’ maybe it’ll get better,” Allison snaps back.

Diego glares but doesn’t answer. That’s the other thing, everybody feels guilty. And they all feel incredibly ashamed that they managed to have pushed their sister to such extremes with their ignorance.

Finally, Luther says what they’re all thinking, “It won’t get better.”

Allison huffs and leaves the room.

*

A week after Klaus wakes, they gift him with vibration-canceling ear corks. They work. There was a concern that the dead might not be really there. That Klaus might see glimpses of the afterlife. In which case, he might hear the dead in his head and not with his ears, so the eardrum wouldn’t be involved in any way. However, it seems it is.

It also implies a lot of disturbing things about ghosts that Five won’t think about right now.

Pogo also presents Klaus with the sedative. Klaus only nods absently, for all intents and purposes not paying that much attention and provoking such relief in Five that it won’t ever be mentioned aloud. Instead, Klaus seems mesmerized with the corks, holding them so damn carefully in his slightly trembling hands.  

“Can I try them now?” Klaus asks. “Again, I mean. Thank you. Thank you… really, thanks. But can I put them in?”

“Yes,” Ben answers with a smile. “Maybe take a nap? You haven’t been sleeping much.”

Klaus flashes an okay sign, having put the corks in after the first word. Five can’t hold it against him and an apology can wait—Five was such _an idiot_ when mentioning the mausoleum; he hadn’t paid attention and he was supposed to—so he makes his way out the door with his siblings and Pogo. Klaus was better after he woke up in the infirmary, but not by much. He had unlocked another facet of his power, but he looked exhausted. Without asking, Five knew that the ghosts were still howling.

After them, the lava lamp turns on.  

*

It’s been two hours into Klaus’ nap and Five is sitting with the rest of his sibling in the living room when Vanya says what’s on her mind.

“Why are we just pretending that he didn’t cross a line?” Vanya asks. She’s obviously trying to control herself, but her hair already started to move in a breeze even though there wasn’t one present yet. “Why is it all forgiven?”

Diego opens his mouth and closes it with a shake of his head.

“He was desperate, Vanya,” Allison answers gently. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to be insensitive.”

Vanya snorts. “He knew what he was saying, Allison.” She averts her eyes, either wanting to be his usual non-confrontational self or to calm down. “Why are we suddenly concerned about Klaus when he’s been an asshole? Why are you trying to help him so damn much with his powers and are so happy to forget that you weren’t about mine?”

Allison frowns, but apparently can’t find the words to answer. Five can’t blame her, he doesn’t have any either. Vanya is right. But she’s also oddly petulant.

“When has he become the most important member of this family?” Vanya asks and there’s a breeze now.

Since the evaluations. Five swallows. They were a good idea, he knows they were, but he hadn’t meant for Vanya to feel left out.

“It’s ‘and,’ not ‘or,’” Diego drawls.

Vanya fixes him with gradually lightening eyes.

But in true Diego fashion, he doesn’t look perturbed. “Obviously, since we’re finding out about Klaus’ powers, we didn’t know before.”

“And this means we should make him the center of our lives now?” Vanya asks, visibly annoyed.

“That means we weren’t paying attention there either,” Diego says. His jaw ripples show that he isn’t calm either. Then again, it would be out of character if he was. 

Vanya shakes her head with a huff, fingers white where’s they’re clenched in her skirt. “Do we have a problem, Diego?”

Diego watches her silently.

“If you have a problem, you should tell me,” Vanya offers—no, she challenges.

“We do have a problem, Vanya,” Diego barely moves his lips as he says the words. “And as soon as you have control, we’re going to talk about it.”

Vanya sneers. “What, now that I’m not a _liability_ , you found another reason to feel superior?”

“Are you kidding me?” Diego explodes, stunning Five momentarily. “What about bringing about the Apocalypse makes you _not_ a liability?”

Vanya blanches. Five’s eyes widen. If he had to guess, he’d say that Allison, Luther, and Ben are shocked too. But Five doesn’t have the time to look. Diego watches Vayna as if she was prey and Vanya… is going to start losing her shit in a moment.

From the corner of his eyes, Five sees Luther straighten and cross his hands in blatant approval. Allison doesn’t do anything, as is her fatal mistake in these sorts of situations. And Ben. Well, he slowly moves his hands off his middle. The lines appear to be drawn, which is exactly the thing that got them in this situation in the first place. Them ganging together against Vanya was never okay, but now it’s downright dangerous.

“Diego that was out of line as your apology directly contradicts it,” Five says. He turns with his back to Vanya in a blatant show of trust that leaves his feeling all sorts of uncomfortable, and mouths to the rest of his siblings, “Apologize.”

“Why do I bother?” Vanya asks coldly. The frames start trembling. “Turn your back on me, attack me with things that aren’t my fault, do your worst.” She leaves the room in a shower of glass, wood, and their pained shouts.

Luckily, nobody is seriously injured.  

Five is still reeling at how she could have possibly misinterpreted a gesture of _trust_ , when Ben turns to him.

“What are you doing, Five?” Ben asks tiredly.

Frustrated, Five snaps back, “I’m trying not to gang up on her.”

“That’s kind of how interventions work,” Ben says. “And besides, when Vanya blew up the moon, isn’t capable of controlling their power, and we need to talk to her, being together is the only thing we _haven’t_ tried. We can push more when we can redirect her attention.”

“How is that all right?” Five rubs a hand over his face. “She feels cornered.”

“Still?” Allison whispers.

Five turns to her but Allison won’t meet his eyes.

“How can a person that powerful feel cornered?” Luther continues the train of thought because sometimes Luther and Allison share a brain.

They share a brain cell in this case.

Five takes a deep breath. “It doesn’t have to do with power, it has to with past trauma and the situations she was put in!” He should have taken another one—he’s still seething.

“The past,” Diego repeats mockingly. “Like the past in which she slit Allison’s throat? That past?”

“It was my fault,” Allison says as always does.

Diego’s not convinced. “I don’t see how it could be—”

“I tried to rumor her,” Allison interrupts.

“Yes, because she couldn’t have done something less lethal,” Diego drawls.

“I made her angry and she wasn’t in control,” Allison insists.

“You made her angry?” Diego asks mockingly. “How could you possibly have done that? She’s the soul of patience.”

“I…” Allison closes her eyes. “I told her about Leonard’s secret identity.”

“Why would she get mad about that, Allison?” Diego tilts his head.

Allison sighs. “Because I kept warning her about him.”

“That sounds like a good reason,” Diego says sarcastically. “Anyway, she slit your throat. Even if she had reasons—”

“She had,” Allison says. “I told you about rumoring her in the past.”

“You were four, Allison,” Luther pleads.

Allison gives a decisive shake of her head. “I still did it.”

“Then Vanya’s guilty of murder!” Luther whisper-shouts. “I asked Mom. Vanya pushed her into the wall and Mom’s neck snapped when she first came online. And I remember a lot of different nannies around that time.”

“That’s conjecture,” Five says automatically.

“Fine,” Ben says. “She thought Mom was a real person and that didn’t stop her from… what was it? Snapping her neck? Shit.”

“Either we were children or we weren’t,” Luther says getting to his point.

Allison glares.

“Even if she had reasons,” Diego repeats. “Which she _didn’t._ ” He lifts a hand. “ _In my opinion_ , she didn’t. She had already killed somebody. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that she might kill again. We have accepted the consequences of our powers. Why couldn’t she?”

“Vanya didn’t have the same training,” Five says.

Diego shakes his head. “She was there!”

“It’s not the same,” Five disagrees.

“It _is_ the same since she wrote a book about that and a personality profile on us.” Diego clenches his fist and continues haltingly. “She put it out there for everyone to know in its detailed glory.”

Allison snorts. “So that’s your problem?”

“You’re damn right, it’s my problem. That shit was my life, she has no right to it, and she certainly didn’t have the right to share with everybody willing to pay two bottles of beer’s worth,” Diego says, louder than before.

“It’s her life too,” Allison replies.

Maybe it’s natural for Allison not to care since a good part of her private life is already out there. Five hadn’t cared at the time because he was the last man standing, but now he wonders how it must have been for his brothers. He tries imagining it and it’s... not pleasant.

“She should either talk about herself only or not at all,” Diego growls. “I didn’t agree with it. I’m not the only one. But that’s not my point. You can see clearly that she remembered a great deal about our training. She analyzed it in her book.”

Vanya did.

“She either thought herself superior to us that she thought she could control it.” Diego lifts a finger. “After killing a few people,” he presses. “Or she didn’t care. So. _In my opinion,_ she doesn’t have reasons. But even if she did have them, she still did it. As an adult, she slit your throat. She almost killed you. She made you unable to talk to your kid. She made it impossible for you to use your power when that’s one of her reasons to cause the Apocalypse in the first place. You remember it but somehow you’ve got to be okay with that, while she gets to feel threatened.”

“We locked her up,” Allison tries.

“That’s because Luther’s dumb, but agreed,” Ben says. “We locked her up in a mausoleum and she’s afraid of ghosts.” He looks at Allison. “Wait, no,” Ben deadpans.

“It’s her worst nightmare,” Allison argues fiercely.

“Good thing we let her out.” Ben nods. “Wait, no.”

Allison makes a frustrated sound. “Just because she let herself out, that doesn’t mean she didn’t suffer.”

“I’m not disputing that.” Ben lifts his hands. “I’m not disputing that. I’m just saying, it’s good that afterward we shouted at each other and vented our feelings. Wait, no.”

“Vanya was angry!” Allison exclaims.

“She killed people, she tried to kill you, she killed Pogo, and Mom, and the world,” Ben says, “Nothing can hold her. But she feels threatened when we try to talk to her.”

It’s Five’s turn to say, “She has no guarantees that we won’t—” 

“And ganging up on her reminds her of a bad time in her life when she felt like an outsider while studying us like lab mice,” Diego adds. He gestures with a knife and Five realizes it’s the first time a blade has made an appearance in the whole discussion.

“Vanya didn’t have a choice in not having her powers,” Allison insists.

“And we’re responsible for all of it, right?” Diego snaps back.  

No one else says anything for a long time. Eventually, Allison goes to look for Vanya. The rest of them drift away to different rooms.


	4. Chapter 4

Six hours into Klaus’ nap, Five assumed it had transferred into a proper sleep. At twelve hours, he thought maybe Klaus was tired. At sixteen, Five frowned and made eye contact with Ben. Klaus was going to get dehydrated, so at twenty hours, Ben woke Klaus up and offered him a big glass of water. Then Ben came back for a second. After drinking them and going to the toilet, Klaus returned to bed. According to Ben, Klaus never bothered to take off the corks and barely opened his eyes. He was soon asleep again.

“How long has it been?” Diego asks. His fist is clenched even though he’s casually leaning on the fridge and Five realizes that this time it’s because Diego is concerned.

Five has been thinking lately about the fact that they don’t know each other nearly as well as they should even when they’re actively trying.

“Twenty-eight hours.” Five checks his watch. “Give or take.”

That doesn’t calm Diego any. “How sure are we that he’s sleeping?”

“Ben woke him up eight hours ago.”

“And?”

“Klaus seemed deeply asleep but other than that, he drank his water and even got up to use the bathroom.”

Diego looked at Five who shrugged.

“Isn’t twenty-eight hours too much time to sleep?” Diego asks.

Luther and Allison enter the kitchen and are greeted with nods.

“It can be,” Five tells Diego.

“What?” Luther looks at them. “He hasn’t woken up yet?”

“No,” Ben answers, taking a seat at the table. “I’m bringing him breakfast after.”

“When is it too much?” Diego drops into a chair. “To sleep. Or a better question: when isn’t it too much?”

Five twirls his fork once. “When the body demands it.”

“Vanya is not coming. She’s still ma—upset,” Allison says as she puts eggs on her plate. “When’s the last time Klaus slept?”

“He slept worse since I told him about the mausoleum,” Five admits.

“He hasn’t slept all that well since we got here,” Luther says. “I used to be up a lot at night and we met each other.”

Ben sighs. “Listening to music, being high, or being drunk doesn’t count as a good nights’ sleep so….” 

_Since Klaus discovered his powers._

“Well then,” Five says nonchalantly although it’s not clear to him how his brother _survived_ to die in the Apocalypse. “His body needs it.”

“Whose body needs what?” Klaus asks through a yawn. He sits down and squints.

Allison rolls her eyes. “You an—” She stops after Klaus flinches. “What’s wrong?”

“His head probably hurts,” Five whispers and gets up.

“Like a mother,” Klaus whines.

“Right.” Five puts two big glasses in front of Klaus. “It’s dehydration. You’re drinking these with breakfast.”

“Shhh.” Klaus takes a drink and opens his eyes a bit more. “I’m so hungry.”

“I’ll cook,” Five volunteers and Klaus give the world’s quietest cheer.

*

After breakfast, Klaus can open his eyes. “Where’s Vanya?”

They look at each other for a second and Klaus studies them with that rare intense expression of his.

“The house is still standing, so either it wasn’t such a big deal or we’re making progress!” Klaus claps. “Go, team.”

Five feels scolded.

“We tried an intervention,” Ben says. “It didn’t work.”

“Thing is,” Klaus begins again after a pause, “I’m not sure we can help.”

“Why not?” Allison asks and she looks three seconds away from getting insulted.

Klaus makes faces for about three whole seconds. “Who’s Vanya?” 

“ _Our_ sister,” Allison snaps.

“Yeah, sure, but I mean, who is she?” Klaus lifts a hand and glances at Five helplessly. “Is she critical? Is she… passionate? Snappy? Kind? Sensitive? Calm? She gets to decide all that.”

“But we can be there for her,” Allison insists.

“Of course, we can,” Luther says and smiles encouragingly.

“Eh.” Klaus puts a hand to his chest. “As somebody who has been under the influence—willingly—for _years,_ I have to tell you that she’s going to have to make some hard decisions herself.”

Allison almost sneers. “What decisions did you make?”

Klaus smiles bitterly and doesn’t say anything. His eyes flick to Five and Five understands. Klaus is talking about the impossible choices, the bad decisions that both Five and Klaus have made _knowing_ that they were awful, and living with them. They’ve all had to make them, but it was shoved in both of their faces the most. Five hadn’t expected that there are some parts of him that he’d have difficulty accepting and that reaching the point where he could live with himself would be such a climb. But Klaus was right.

Vanya would have to find a way to accept herself as she is and none of them could help with that.

*

Though the issue with Vanya is far from being resolved, things got better. Vanya seems to keep to herself as much as possible, so Five expects an explosion from that corner pretty soon. The sad truth is that it looks like it may come stopping the Apocalypse and not preventing it. However, they are more and more prepared to answer that eventuality.

Once Klaus started sleeping regularly, their brother changed once more. There’s no telling what he might’ve been like if he hadn’t lived the life he had, after all, they carry their experiences with them, but Klaus seems more… more calm, more focused, more observant. Just more.

And a better leader.

That doesn’t mean Klaus doesn’t still have his dumbass moments—that would require a transplant of personality—but he somehow manages to make them work together without seemingly doing anything.

It’s the oddest thing and Five is still unsure whether Klaus does it on purpose.

For example, now.

Five is sitting at a desk in one of the common rooms, trying to decide Hazel and Cha-cha were two of forty-three babies that were born at the same time and peripherally trying to find out if the Commission as a whole is comprised of idiots or just most of them. Klaus is on the floor, humming softly as he listens to music with headphones on and tries to will the ghosts away. Five glances occasionally at Klaus since he has made a bet with himself that Klaus is going to start dancing in the next ten minutes when Ben enters the room.

“Hey,” Ben whispers. “How’s it going?”

“About as well as you’d expect,” Five answers without specifying. Nothing’s changed with anything as far as he knows. Plus, “Weren’t you here twenty minutes ago?” Everybody knows, and understands, why Klaus and Ben stick together most of the time but doesn’t mean they should escape the teasing. 

“Great,” Ben says, ignoring the second question entirely, and hesitates. “Well….” He winces and Five’s willing to bet that Vanya flashed in his mind. “You know. I was actually wondering if we can have chicken noodle soup tonight.”

Five raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Please?” Ben beams at him.

“Why?” Five repeats.

Ben draws himself straight up. “Because I love you and I wanted some and I asked Mom but she said you were the one handling the soup today and I realized I’m out of blackmail material.” He kneels next to the desk to put his chin on it. “Please?”

“You’re going to owe me a favor,” Five says, swallowing a grin.

“Can’t you do it out of love?” Ben asks so innocently that Five’s sure there’s nothing innocent about it.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not an idiot?”

Ben and Five stare at each other challengingly.

And then Klaus rockets into the ceiling. He launches straight up. Into the ceiling. Fast.

Five needs a fraction of a second to orient himself, curse, and then he starts searching for possibilities.

Klaus is hurt, obviously.

Now, how to catch him?

And also, why did that just happen to him? Was it an enemy? Could it happen to more of them? Is it going to happen again to Klaus?

“What the—” Ben catches up. And then, instinctually, extends a tentacle towards Klaus. It slows his fall enough to finally put a stop to it. “What the fuck? What the actual fuck?” Ben seems dazed.

“Infirmary,” Five says. He keeps his instructions short. “Can you hold him? Can you hold Klaus?”

Ben turns to look at him and finally says, “Yes.”

With a twitch of is foot, Klaus comes around. “What the—” He groans. “Auch.” Klaus looks around, sees the tentacle, and says with a commendable lack of panic. “No, really. What the fuck?”

Ben shakes his head, not knowing how to explain.

“Ben can put his tentacles to benevolent uses,” Five says.

“I’m glad,” Klaus says. “Seeing how I’m held by one, I mean. It’s a good thing; wouldn’t want to end up in pieces.” He giggles and Five eyes widen as he sees blood slowly drip down his neck.

“Hurry,” Five tells Ben.

“Why?” Ben asks and turns toward Klaus.

“No!” Five shouts. He’s afraid that Ben might tighten the tentacle. “Don’t look. Precious cargo, just hurry.”

“Okay...” Ben takes a deep breath, almost running down the hallways. “No looking, no looking, no looking.”

They finally get there, having added Luther and Diego to the procession.

“Put him on the table,” Pogo orders. “What happened?”

“He ran into the ceiling,” Ben says while doing as commanded.

Luther frowns. “How can you run in—”

“I’m sure _you_ could find a way,” Diego retorts absently. “Especially if you had help and that person was very lucky.”

“It was more like he was launched,” Five says, ignoring Luther and Diego. “Or leaped with high velocity until he hit the ceiling.”

Diego has his confused face on.

“Did somebody… launch him?” Luther asks.

“The proximity alarms should have activated,” Diego dismisses. “You know, I think I have a new power.”

“You do?” Ben asks curiously.

At the same time, Luther rolls his eyes. “So?”

“Yeah, I can hold my breath a really long time,” Diego says. “What if—”

“That’s not a new power,” Luther says, crossing his arms.

“A really long time because after five hours I got bored,” Diego snaps back. “And cold. What if—”

“If that’s Klaus new power?” Five asks. He smirks when Diego huffs at not getting to ask the question himself. “It’s possible.”

“Also, Ben can carry things,” Diego says, turning towards Ben.

Ben raises his arms. “Not intentionally.”

*

It’s two days later that a bandaged Klaus says to Five, “Did you know that Luther is thinking about the serum?”

“What serum?”

“The—” Klaus stops abruptly. “There is no way I can say this without laughing. The monkey serum? The strength serum?  Steroids that make his dic—”

“The serum,” Five interrupts.

“Yeah.” Klaus wiggles around. “I think he feels like he’s not enough. That’s a terrible feeling, Five. Even if Luther is right and being healthy offers him more control, it’s still a sucky reason.”

“What do you want me to do about it?” Five asks and, as opposed to other times, actually waits for an answer.

“Ask him if he wants mechanics classes?” Klaus shrugs. “He’s got to have some since he flies right? But there are cars and boats and… a whole shitload. Then afterward, engineering. At the same time? Take Diego with you.”

“They don’t know what to do when they can’t rail at each other,” Five observes.

“They really don’t.”

“You think it’s going to be enough?”

“C’mon, Five.” Klaus chuckles. “I can’t know that. You’re the probability guy.”

Five shrugs. _I don’t know either._ He doesn’t look at Klaus.

“At least we’re doing something,” Klaus says, sensing like usual that he’s crossed a line.

“We are.”


	5. Chapter 5

When the Commission goons come, it’s anticlimactic.

In a way.

Because as much of a headache they are, they were never the problem.

*

After a few more episodes, Klaus and the ceiling have become sworn enemies. And the jokes keep coming. Five lives in a permanent state of hilarity and exasperation, which is much better than anything in his life, deduced or hoped. Then, Klaus somehow becomes convinced that confronting his fears is the way to achieve control over whatever flying thing he’s got.

No, Five doesn’t know how Klaus reached that conclusion, Five doesn’t live inside Klaus’ head and doesn’t want to—who knows what’s in there?

Also, Klaus’ idea about Ben’s tentacles is to let them out ‘to chill.’ The first time, it’s an unmitigated disaster and everybody’s lucky they escaped with their lives. Somehow, when Ben explains this to Klaus, Klaus’ only reply is, “See how _you_ like it.” Ben tries again. And a third time. Surprisingly—apparently pettiness is constructive—it gets better. Not good, but better.

Currently, Klaus and Diego are in the mausoleum for the sixth time. Five is with Diego, Luther, and Allison in the cemetery. Vanya has opted not to come and even Allison has decided that a break from them would do her well.

It’s Diego who sees them first. Approaching single file from both entrances to the graveyard, they have big goggles and guns. There are a lot of them.

But not as many as Five expected.

The family prepares to meet them when ghosts begin flickering in and out of existence. Five looks questioningly at his siblings, but they don’t seem to know what’s going on either. The goons look around unsure and slowly but surely the flickering transforms into _waves_ of consistency for the ghosts. And they are many: whole, in various pieces, asking for help, wailing. They are everywhere, sometimes here, sometimes not.

Five and his siblings are used to it, even though it doesn’t cease to be frightening. But it’s a manageable kind of scare. One that they can control.

The goons aren’t so lucky. They are frozen where they stand and starting to break the line. Two have the bad luck of being in range of some of the more wrathful ghosts and tossed aside as if they were toys.

But it’s not until Ben that the shooting starts. Suddenly, the disturbing choir comes second to the sound of a building _tearing down_ —blocks sliding off each other, wood and marble and metal whining for all their worth. And there! One of Ben’s tentacles suddenly bursts free from the ceiling, hitting anything and everything in its way. Then one more. And a third.

If Five wasn’t familiar with Ben’s powers, he’d say that something was trying to crawl out.

…Crawl out of the mausoleum.

It would be a very bad thing if Five didn’t know about Ben’s powers.  

The goons start shooting. Five and his siblings take cover but it wasn’t necessary. The goons haven’t been seen them yet and Ben’s tentacles are too far away. No, the goons are shooting at ghosts. They are scared out of their training, their movements panicked and desperate. Unfortunately for them, they can’t kill what’s dead, and, the more they try, the angrier the ghosts get.

The ghosts—predictably—kill them. Even though they are at times incorporeal, the rage is real enough and they come back. They rip some of the goons apart with a viciousness that Five has rarely seen. The ghosts are mad, they want to cause pain so they do.

Fearful of the ghosts doing the same to them, Five looks around and sees the same man dressed in a uniform. He seems… unimpressed. There a couple more men in uniforms guarding them and no ghosts move past them.

“I told Klaus they’re here and he knew where you were,” the man says. “He sent us to make sure you’re safe.”

The destruction of the mausoleum stops.

“Who are you?” Five hurriedly asks as they all start to flicker.

The man gives a sharp smile. “Dave.” And then he’s gone.

“The Dave?” Allison asks.

Five finds himself shrugging dramatically.

*

The mausoleum was destroyed because Ben was inspired by Vanya. He knew they weren’t in range so he went to town. It was a good thing for Klaus, who seems more relaxed, but not one he was willing to talk about. They would do it later.

That was okay, lucky even, since they got home, Klaus grabbed a power nap, and at five that afternoon, the alarms sounded.

It was a run of the mill hostage situation at a hotel. Allison got on the TV and rumored them into giving up their weapons. Then Five took them into the building. Klaus and Luther went to tie them up with Five, Diego, and Vanya standing by. Meanwhile, Allison and Ben release the hostages and calm them as much as they can. It went as smoothly as these things get. There was a hostage-taker who was in the bathroom and got out shooting, but he was brought down by a knife from Diego. 

Thing is, it went too smoothly for somebody’s tastes.

“What’s going to happen to them?” Vanya asks.

Klaus makes a complicated knot, winks at a hostage-taker, and stands up. “We’re taking them to the police.”

“But you used to kill them,” Vanya protests.

“I was barely around then, and I do things another way. If we can without putting us or others at risk that’s what we do,” Klaus calmly says. “This time we can afford it.”

“We can afford it?” Vanya is visibly taken aback. “What if they escape from prison?”

Klaus doesn’t seem bothered. “Doubtful.”

“Are you willing to take that risk?” Vanya asks sneering.

“None of the people we have put away have escaped from prison.” Klaus shows his hands, in a complete shrug. “These people have held their hostages for an hour, treated them well, and nobody died. It was an easy takedown. Two didn’t even kill his guy. We have no reason to go on murdering people, the courts can handle them.”

Vanya’s eyes narrow. “What happens if they do it again?”

 “I guess we’ll see,” Klaus answers, his own eyes more intense than they were before.

“Who are you to decide what risks to take with people’s lives?” Vanya asks. “Who are you to decide to keep them alive when you don’t know what they’ve done?”

“You don’t either,” Klaus says. He signals Five to take them to the police and Klaus sits down. “What’s really the problem Vanya?”

Five does what he’s asked and gathers the hostages too before warning the police away from the hotel and bringing back Ben and Allison out of Vanya’s view. The tableau is pretty much the same. Vanya is advocating death, Klaus has lost his shoes and socks, Diego and Luther have spread out.

“What are you most upset about?” Klaus asks. “That we aren’t killing these people or that you don’t get to kill?”

Vanya’s mouth shuts with a snap.

“It’s okay to like violence, Vanya,” Klaus continues gently. “It’s okay to be angry. If you find the right situation, it’s okay to even kill. This is not the right one, but you can find them. You just need the right context.”

“I’m not like that,” Vanya denies and shakes her head.   

“If you were, that would be okay,” Klaus says calmly.

“No, no.” Vanya shakes her head. She says, “People have died but that wasn’t my fault.”

It’s out of context but clear nonetheless. Five doesn’t know if that’s something the subject triggered and of Klaus wanted it to happen. He doesn’t seem to be big on complicated plans and he mostly goes with the flow, but he also sees how to take advantage of a situation where Five finds no way out. 

Whether Klaus knowingly provoked it or not, he goes with it. He says nothing, and he doesn’t need to. Klaus _looks_ at Vanya and his eyes _burn._

“You’re victim blaming,” Vanya accuses. “None of it was my fault!”

A very, _very_ predictable breeze starts blowing.

“You know,” Klaus says, “at one point I thought you were going to slit the throats of the orchestra. When Diego explained it to me he used the same words Allison did. You were upset both times. You deny responsibility for both incidents. And yet, Allison’s throat got slashed and the others got a bit of a draft.”

“What are you saying?” Vanya’s eyes lighten and the wind gets stronger.

“That your control fluctuates and that’s the best possible way I could interpret it,” Klaus says—still—calmly.

“And if you don’t?” Vanya asks challengingly.

“I’d say your power does exactly what you want it to do,” Klaus retorts, fast and merciless.

Vanya smirks. “And what are _you_ going to do about it?” The wind becomes faster still.

“Call you on your bullshit?” Klaus asks rhetorically.

Knocked out of balance, Vanya blinks. “What?”

“Tell you that the entire world doesn’t deserve to die because you were treated poorly?” Klaus continues. “Point out that we were allowed to exclude you as we wanted to and at most we were brats and assholes?”

“How dare you?” Vanya’s eyes have widened.

“No one in this family felt like they belonged and that’s the truth.” Klaus makes a dismissive hand gesture. “We each had our fears, our abuse, our issues—you know about most. I’ve read them in your book. We’re trying to be better this time around. There’s a lot of regret to go around. We’re working our way through it.”

Vanya’s chin lifts.

“Except you,” Klaus says. “There’s no ‘my bad,’ there. You have been as blind as the rest of us and played right into Dad’s hands, but somehow you’re the only person who was wronged.” He lifts a hand, the one that says ‘hello.’ “You don’t know who you are. I get, I d—well, I don’t really, but I understand why you’d have issues with it. That’s fine. That’s _okay_. You could even a bad person. You could and I’d not have any problem. But please.” Klaus brings his hands together. “Stop it with the threat of the Apocalypse every time you hear something that you don’t like.”

Vanya makes an outraged noise, hands trembling.

“You could scream, slam doors, accuse, be really nasty, _punch_ people,” Klaus lists. “You can do any one of those and other I didn’t even consider. Just… communicate your fury in other than dead bodies, ours or the world’s.” He considers. “I’m not saying anything about Dad. He’s a sadistic fuck, he can defend himself.” 

“And if I don’t?” Vanya challenges.

Klaus doesn’t say anything, just watches her placidly.

“Are you going to stop me?” Vanya smirks.

Vanya sends a slash of wind straight at Klaus. Before Five can react, it dissipates into thin air. Dave and his men in uniform appear right next to Vanya.

“Yes,” Klaus says. He lifts a few centimeters off the floor and Vanya’s body becomes oddly rigid. “You see, my new power is telepathy and I have my dead friends that you can’t hurt. More than that though? Even now I can’t hold you for long, that’s true, but I don’t need to. A second and Five’s back in time. He can kill you when you were a baby. He can take Luther with him and have Luther strangle you. He can take Diego and stab-stab-stabby. He can take Allison and Allison can rumor you into a vegetable. Or Ben and those tentacles have ripped grown people apart. We are each other’s biggest threats. What can you do against that?”

Vanya’s eyes widen, this time in fear and not outrage.

“Of course, no one would,” Klaus says simply lacking his usual dramatic pauses. “For all that we talked a big talk, we couldn’t do it then or now. It’s because you’re our sister and not because you’re a powerhouse. Yeah, you’re stronger than the rest of us. You’re mortal though, we or the world would find a way. So, just _delight_ in the first.”

Klaus’ last words echo in the silence. The winds stopped. The ghosts disappeared. It’s just them now.

There are tears in Vanya’s eyes and her lips separate a bit. At a gesture from Klaus that releases her jaw—or her head or her; it’s impossible to tell just by looking—she says, “I don’t know who I am.”

“You know more than you think you do and you’ll learn even more. Then, you’ll find out that some is false or inaccurate, and you’ll start again,” Klaus says. “What’s more important, you have a chance to find out.”

“What if I’m not Vanya anymore?” Vanya asks as a tear slides down her cheek.

Klaus shrugs. “What if you’re not?”

“Will you still love me?” Vanya asks haltingly and chokes.

“Will you still love me in five years?” Klaus asks. “Or five years ago?”

Vanya frowns. “I have always loved you even when I didn’t like you very much. You’re my brother.”

“You’re my—our—sister,” Klaus answers, still staring in that intense way of his.

‘Oh,’ Vanya mouths.

“Can we go home now?” Klaus asks gently. “Five promised popcorn and I can hardly wait.”

Vanya’s glance is wary.

“The chance that some of it may pop right into his patronizing face has been on my mind more than it should have,” Klaus admits shamelessly.

Five turns to him outraged, but Klaus only shrugs.

“The little joys in life,” Ben confirms.

Allison gives a slightly hysterical giggle, Diego chokes on his chuckles, and Luther slaps a palm to his face that does nothing to hide his smile.

“Guys!” Five shouts.

“Yeah,” Vanya says, reluctant but more relaxed than Five has ever seen her. “Popcorn battle afterward?”

“I’m on Vanya’s team,” Allison declares loyally.

“I think we should all be,” Ben says. “Got to put that power of yours to test, Klaus.”

Klaus puts a hand dramatically on his chest. “No shoes or socks and you’re on.”

“What?” Five asks and makes eye contact with Vanya, who lifts her shoulders.

They’re… better.

 

**_Epilogue_ **

“Around the clock, everybody!” Klaus shouts.

They all gather round.

“You two are billionaires, couldn’t you afford a bigger clock?” Five mumbles.

Klaus and Ben took over the company after Dad disappeared. They are now very comfortably rich and eccentric. Five can’t complain, it’s what allows Five’s restaurant to go as smoothly as it does, with no care for anything but health and safety. It’s how Luther builds and flies the fastest planes, how Diego builds the best submarines and dives around the world.  Also, it’s the reason Allison can do her award-winning charity work and Vanya can afford to be a renowned busker, with no one having the ability to track her performances.

“It’s the same clock,” Vanya answers with a roll of her eyes. “They’re sentimental.”

Dave, who about a year ago, solidified permanently smiles and pecks Klaus on the cheek. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“Everybody has enough to drink?” Mom asks with a secret smile in the corner of her lips while she tops Klaus’ pomegranate juice and he nods in thanks.

“We do, Mom,” Diego answers dutifully.

“Kissass,” Luther coughs.

Diego glares at him, Luther smirks back, and Allison shouts and points to the table.

Everybody’s attention goes back to the clock.

And…

“Happy averted Apocalypse!” Ben yells.

They all cheer and take a drink. Pogo surreptitiously wipes a tear. Claire is gregarious and talkative as she always is.

Five breaths out. “We did it,” he whispers. He looks at his family yet again. Vanya salutes him with her glass. Klaus and Ben smirk at him. Diego, Luther, and Allison smile different degrees of gentle and mischievous. “We did it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you want to comment (or just talk to me) you can do it here or on my [tumblr](http://e-alexandrescu.tumblr.com/).


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